Puzzled and Disturbed

On Friday afternoon, I received a text message from one of my best friends, Phyllis, who I used to teach with in my first year. After I left, she and I have still maintained our friendship, and we talk about once a week. The text message simply said "Oh Dear God." I asked what was up, and she told me that I needed to check out a video that someone had shot at her former school, which was the school where my former students graduated from after having me at the Ninth Grade Academy, so, needless to say, I knew the school well.

I tried to find the link, but I couldn't. She then private messaged me. I was unaware of what I was getting ready to see. As I watched the video, I noticed a student harassing a special education student.  Then what I saw was much worse. I saw a teacher try to take this student and sit on her in the floor to restrain her. Then I saw the teacher take the student by the hair and drag her across the gym floor.

After I watched the video, I texted my friend and said that I thought the teacher looked like someone we both used to work with at our former school. About 20 minutes later, my friend texted me back and said that it was indeed that same teacher. I was floored and was in a state of shock. I would have never suspected this teacher to ever do something like this. I never witnessed that behavior from this lady. Never! I only observed her being fair, firm, but caring toward her students.

Even though I have watched this video several times; even two days later, I am just still horrified by the situation. I am still trying to completely process what happened. Even though all of my former students have graduated, there is always that small possibility that it could've been one of my kids. I don't know what was going through the teacher's head at the time this happened. As a teacher, I just still cannot come to terms or process what happened to this child.

For the sake of anonymity, I am refraining from posting the link to the video. I am also refraining from posting due to the fact that the video clip contains disturbing images. If you feel so inclined to watch the video, it has went viral and has made news sites in several states, so you may Google it.

Let me close this by giving a piece of advice. Whether we realize it or not, we, as teachers, always have to be cognizant of the fact that any of our actions and words can be recored and used against us at any time.

Visual Patterns Task Project

Ah, fall break! It is here! However, I really want to share a project that my kids did with you guys and tell how it worked in my class! We had been working on arithmetic and geometric sequences as well as arithmetic series and other types of patterns in my Algebra 2 classes. Since we had midterms this past week, I didn't want to give a written quiz about sequences and series as well as a midterm. Plus I tried to take into account that my students had three other midterms in addition to my class. So, I had an epiphany one afternoon to have students write their own math tasks using patterns that were available on Visual Patterns.

I created a Google Doc with the requirements, and then I attached an example task for students to look at and use. Then students created their task and answer key on the following pages and return to me via Google Classroom so that way I could give feedback. Some of the students struggled with coming up with questions, but I thought that this would be good for students, as many haven't had many opportunities to craft their own questions. I did help a few students come up with some questions, and several students asked for my feedback on questions. I had 100% participation, especially since it counted as a quiz grade (and quizzes/tests are 70% of a student's grade in class).

I really liked this project, and I will definitely use it again. A couple of things that I would change would be creating a more concrete rubric (yet I loved just being able to give feedback). I would also give students a more extended period of time to complete, such as a day or so. I would also be more specific with questions and encourage students to craft their own questions.

I am attaching the Google Doc with the requirements for the assignment as well as my example task. I am also attaching a few of the exemplar projects from my students, all of whom granted me permission to post. Let me know if you have any questions about this task. Also, I would love to know if you use the task in your classroom, and whether it was a success or not. Furthermore, I would love some feedback to help improve the project.

Visual Patterns Task Assignment

Student Exemplars

The One With The Evaluation and The Power Outage

Happy Monday!

Today was an interesting day to say the least. Where do I begin?

I started in my first block and taught Function Operations. I realized later on in the day that I explained a couple of concepts incorrectly to my first block, which was embarrassing. I knew how to do the problems, but I had never taught this concept before today. We had been using the Chromebooks a lot lately, so it was a nice change to go back to full pencil and paper. I decided to go ahead and show a video and do a Quizzizz with them tomorrow. With my other Algebra 2 class, I corrected a couple of my mistakes, but I still need to show a video anyways before we go on to composition of functions.  

Then in my geometry class, I had an announced evaluation. Our assistant principal came in to observe me for one of my two announced evaluations, and I hope that I did well. My lesson was on the Triangle Inequality Theorem, and I started out by grouping the students using Flippity, which I recommend you Google here on the MTBoS. I used this as my form of grouping students, which is one of our evaluation criteria. I also used this opportunity to do Visible Random Grouping (VRG), and I plan on doing more of it in the semester. The group activity involved spaghetti, which I have done in the past. My students were pretty engaged with the project, and many got the main takeaway. Then we did a Pear Deck presentation, which also went smoothly. I realized we were quickly running out of time, so I just did a couple of brief examples of the Hinge Theorem. I used an example of a gator chomp, since Tennessee beat Florida for the first time in twelve years. Many kids were engaged with this! At the end of the lesson, we did a Quizzizz activity, and many of the students enjoyed this. I had several begging me to do more with them!

At the beginning of 4th block, we had a power outage. Even though 4th block is my planning, I still went out in the hallway to make sure that the kids were in class. Everything I needed to do, I needed a computer (and power). I had decided that I was going to read, but then I realized I forgot my book at home. So, I went to the office and chatted with the secretary, and I mostly went up and down the hallway. I went back to my room and cleaned up some papers and my desk, which was a mess! Then school decided to close a half hour early, which meant I had to cancel tutoring. I helped supervise kids that were waiting for their ride to come, and then I went to the front to help supervise kids waiting for the buses, which were late. After the buses came, I decided it was time to go home.

Polygraph

I finally had the opportunity to be able to do a Polygraph on Desmos with my Algebra 2 classes! I had read so much about Polygraphs here on the MTBoS, and I was so pumped to be able to do one with my classes. We had been discussing graphs of polynomial functions and end behavior, so I thought that the Polygraph would be an easy way to be able to increase understanding of the concepts. Most students were immediately hooked! I had a couple of students who had difficulty in the activity because they were having trouble thinking of questions, especially yes or no questions. Also, this was an activity and task completely different from much that my students have done in the past. I just told those students to keep trying. I had even numbers in my first Algebra 2 class, so I let them play, and I went around and assisted students. In my other Algebra 2 class, I have an odd number of students, so I played along with them! I had so much fun, but, more importantly, my students had fun! I have had several students ask me when we are going to play Polygraph again.

Here are my reflections from the activity

• I am definitely going to do Polygraph again this semester. 
• I need to model how to ask questions more so that students are more comfortable during the activity. 
• I need to encourage students to question and to think more. 
• I may also need to model how to do the activity before letting students work

I also need to think of lessons, standards, objectives, etc. that I can use Polygraph for in Algebra 2 and Geometry. Do any of you guys have any ideas? 

Discussing 9/11 With High Schoolers

Many of our students were out today for a field trip to the regional fair in Knoxville, so I didn't have enough students in my classes to teach new material. So, I decided that since the 15th anniversary of September 11 was yesterday, I would take some time to discuss 9/11 with my students, especially since many of them were born either in 2000 or 2001. I even have a few students who were born after 9/11.

Anyways, I showed this video that Casey McCormick recommended to me. Most of the kids said that they had not seen it before, but a few did. That's okay. It tells the story of Welles Crowther, who made the courageous decision to help save people on 9/11 while risking his own life. Then some students in my first block recommended this video, that tells the story of a girl whose dad died on 9/11 and how much she missed him through the years. I then showed my pictures from visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City.

In my first block, I had eight students, so we sat in groups of four. After watching these videos, a few kids shared their experiences from their families on that day, and then I shared my experience, being a 12 year old seventh grader on a field trip (See my previous post for the full story). Then we had a great discussion about this event, and many had some good insight to offer. Many kids in my second block (all of the 11 who were present), were quiet, but we had a discussion on how our veterans are treated, and a couple mentioned 9/11 conspiracy theories. I remained neutral, however. My third block really enjoyed the pictures, and I had a student ask if they could use their Chromebooks and look up stuff on the 9/11 Museum and Memorial website. Of course, I said yes. Several kids wanted to show me what all they found. So, this made me excited.

Yes, I know that there is no standard on teaching about 9/11 in Algebra 2 and/or Geometry, but I have an unwavering opinion that conversations about 9/11 need to be had across the curriculum, not just in history. Although kids didn't learn math in my classes, we as teachers have a moral responsibility to teach about life-changing events, such as 9/11.

9/11: 15 Years Later

It's hard to believe that 9/11 was 15 years ago! It's also hard to believe that I was 12 when that happened.  wanted to take a moment to reflect on what my personal 9/11 experience was like. 

15 years ago, I was in the seventh grade, and I was so excited that I was going on a field trip to the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We were at the museum about five minutes when we were paged to come to the front of the building. Our teachers told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York City, and we had to leave Oak Ridge immediately to head back to school. Not completely realizing what was going on, I just remember being disappointed about not getting to finish our field trip. When we got back to school, we sat and watched the events unfold. 

Now that I am a teacher, it has dawned on me several times that the majority of the students I have this year were born in either 2000 or 2001, so this will just be a day that they will study about in history. So, we are going to take a few minutes to have a discussion about 9/11 tomorrow in my classes. 

I have been fortunate to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City twice. In July 2014, I went the first time with three friends of mine, two of whom live in NYC. Then I took a group of students from my school in May of 2015. If you ever are in New York City, please do yourself a favor and go to this memorial and museum. You will not regret it. Now, let's reflect on today and remember those who lost their lives in this hellacious day. 

Translation Shuffle

Do you ever have days where your students still need slightly more practice on a concept, yet you feel that you don't have enough resources along with the fact that several students are absent? So, yes, I had this on Thursday of last week. In my geometry class, I have 24 kids. I had five absent. We had spent the previous day doing translations, and I wasn't happy with where they needed to be with respect to it. With several being absent and knowing I was going to be gone the next day, coupled with the Labor Day weekend, I didn't want to go on to reflections just yet. I had given them a worksheet on graphing translations of figures because students had requested practice on pencil and paper. After this though, I was unsure of what to do. I knew some of the kids wanted to go outside at one point during the semester, so I thought of an activity where students could practice translations yet go outside. Thus, the Translation Shuffle was born.

Here is how the Translation Shuffle works!

1. Group students into groups of 3 (for triangles) and 4 (for squares/rectangles)
2. Have one group give a command as to where to move. (Ex: Move up 3 and left 5)
3. Student gives command, and groups move up/down or left/right
4. Groups have to state the translation rule. (Ex. x-5, y+3)
5. Groups take turns giving commands, telling other groups how to move.

Here are a few pics of our activity.

To reflect, I would do this activity again, but I would probably add something slightly more interactive or add an extremely large coordinate plane somewhere in the parking lot! Let me know if you have any questions about the Translation Shuffle.